When Minnesota Duluth scored on a power play to go up 3-0 at 16:11 of the first period, it seemed unlikely that a couple of hours later they would be scrambling in their own crease, desperately trying to prevent Wisconsin from burying an overtime goal to secure a third straight WCHA title.<\/p>\n
But the Bulldogs (31-4-1, 24-4-0 WCHA) piled enough bodies in front of Jinelle Zaugg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shot at an empty net to keep the puck out and play continuing until Haley Irwin could end the contest 6:32 into the overtime.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We took it up the ice, Heidi Pelttari had a great shot, the rebound came right to me,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Irwin said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I knew [Wisconsin goalie Jessie] Vetter was to the right side, so I knew that I had to shoot left. I shot left and it went in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153When it was 3-0 and 4-1, I knew it was far from over,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d UMD coach Shannon Miller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Any time you play a good team like that, you know that they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re going to come back.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Wisconsin (27-8-3, 20-5-3) got life from a power play goal of their own with seconds remaining in the opening period, and eventually got back to even just in time to force overtime. They took pride in their comeback, but this year, they were unable to take home the trophy.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Credit our players for never giving up, scoring with about 3 minutes to go in the game to tie it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d coach Mark Johnson said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Had an opportunity in overtime; had a couple of real good opportunities in overtime to win it. And when you start the game, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s all you can ask for.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The first ten minutes didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t start the way I envisioned it starting,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
The Bulldogs, who hadn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t won a tournament since 2003, were the more inspired team from the opening face off.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We came out with a lot of fire, a lot of energy, and a lot of hunger to score,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Miller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153When the puck goes in like that for you, you get lucky too. We made some nice plays and did a good job, but you get bounces, and next thing you know, you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re up three-nothing.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Frosh Laura Fridfinnson found the net first off a face off from Irwin just 5:24 into the game, and defenseman Myriam Trepanier doubled the lead a minute and a half later.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saara Touminen dropped a pass to me, and I waited,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Trepanier said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I knew Vetter couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t see anything, because her defender was right there screening her, so I just waited for this hole coming up. As soon as I saw it, I shot and it went in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Elin Holmlov somehow managed to find the net while prone, and the lead grew to three.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Saara took the shot,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I deflected the puck first, and then the rebound came right to me. The girl kind of hit me, so I fell down and managed to get it in.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I guess the stick-handling practice pays off.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
When Zaugg banged home a rebound, it served notice that the defending champs would not go down without a fight.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The goal kind of sparked everybody,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d she said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You go into the locker room, and you were the last team to score, and you kind of have that fire.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Emmanuelle Blais whacked relentlessly at a puck that Vetter tried to cover, pushing UMD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s margin back to three.<\/p>\n
But Jasmine Giles and Zaugg connected a minute apart to get the Badgers within striking distance heading into the third period.<\/p>\n
Zaugg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s second goal, her 86th in a Wisconsin uniform, gave her the most career goals in the program\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s history.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Rachel had a great shot from the point, and we had screens and what not, and somehow I was lucky enough to tip that one,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zaugg said.<\/p>\n
Wisconsin dominated territorially in the third period, but with UMD playing conservatively, had a hard time getting pucks on net, managing only 3 shots on goal in the frame. Just when it looked like the hosts would be able to hang onto their 4-3 lead and send the crowd of 1,274 home happy, Meghan Duggan made a play for the Badgers.<\/p>\n
The sophomore wing carried the puck through the Duluth defense, was hooked to the ice, but managed to get a shot on goal. Kim Martin made the save, but was unable to cover the rebound.<\/p>\n
Mallory Deluce arrived before the delayed penalty was whistled and tucked in the tying goal.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Wisconsin \u00e2\u20ac” very resilient of course, but I knew that was going to happen,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Miller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have predicted a 4-4 tie at the end of the game, but I knew it was far from over.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I think both the second and third period we really came out and really wanted it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Zaugg said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153You could see by the way we were skating, the way we were shooting the puck, and going after rebounds and what not. I think that kind of carried over into overtime, and we were all over it. Had a few unlucky bounces, but nothing we can do about that now.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
The worst bounce for Wisconsin may have been great effort by the Bulldogs, who denied Zaugg\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hat trick that would have won the game for UW with Martin was out of position.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153In overtime, they had a really good chance at our net, and we were diving all over the place,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Miller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Haley blocked a shot, and then Heidi Pelttari, our defenseman, blocked another shot in front of the net where there was a scramble. And then moments later, we went down and scored that goal.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Johnson, like many in attendance, didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t understand why a potential icing went uncalled prior to the final goal, but he was gracious in defeat.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Congratulate Duluth on winning the game today,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Both teams battled extremely hard at different points of regulation and overtime.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
UMD adds the conference playoff crown to the WCHA regular season title they claimed earlier.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153You don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t win championships and regular season titles without great goaltending,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Miller said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We just have a very solid team starting with Kim Martin in net, all the way through our entire lineup.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When Minnesota Duluth scored on a power play to go up 3-0 at 16:11 of the first period, it seemed unlikely that a couple of hours later they would be scrambling in their own crease, desperately trying to prevent Wisconsin from burying an overtime goal to secure a third straight WCHA title. But the Bulldogs […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8860"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8860"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8860\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8860"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8860"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8860"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uscho.com\/recaps\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=8860"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}